Dear colleague,
We are hearing reports that management may be misinforming faculty funded by grants that the raises won in our contracts must be paid entirely from current grant funds rather than by the central administration. This would be a direct violation of one of the most important victories in our contract: clear language that explicitly requires the administration to centrally fund unbudgeted raises for grant-based faculty, postdocs, and graduate workers.
Here is the pertinent language from the contracts—in Article 8 of the full-time faculty and grad worker agreement and Article 7 of the postdoc agreement:
The University shall fund contractual salary increases for unit members on grants with budgets approved by funding agencies that are not already accounted for in existing grant funds or unit/department budgets, including start-up funds. This will be accomplished by awarding compensatory funds to cover the difference between budgeted salary increases and negotiated salary increases, if the total amount of the awarded grant funding is not increased by the grantor to cover the negotiated salary raises for the duration of the grant or start-up funds. If unit/department budgets do not have sufficient funds to pay the negotiated increases, the University shall fund those increases.
As far as we know, no other higher ed union has won similar language, so it would be no surprise if the administration tried to undermine this victory. Please communicate to any supervisors or administrative staff that current grant funds are NOT meant to pay for the contractually agreed upon raises. We have reached out to the Office of University Labor Relations to let them know about this issue, and we will ensure that they correctly inform the units about how the contract must be applied. If you have any questions or want to report violations of our contract, email aaup@rutgersaaup.org as soon as possible.
In solidarity,
Becky and Todd
Rebecca Givan, President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
Todd Wolfson, General Vice President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
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